Maddie Hughes Project Midpoint

Digital Media Essay Outline

Thesis Paragraph:

            Within minutes of plummeting into the Hudson, the story of US Airways flight 1549 was tweeted for the world to know. Twitter broke one of the biggest miracle stories of 2009, four minutes after it happened and about 15 minutes before the regular media started reporting. Social media has undoubtedly changed the course of journalism. Power has shifted from top-down to bottom-up structures. Social media has also given journalists an opportunity to reach a larger audience and spread information more efficiently. 21^st century United States social media are transforming journalism’s landscape in unpredictable ways.

First Paragraph: People in the action are telling the stories faster than the media can.

·         Some places, especially in the Middle East, are dangerous for journalists to go. From afar journalists can gather real-time information from social media sites like Twitter. Also, Twitter can be a place for journalists to rally together when one of their own is in danger.

o   #FreeAJStaff

o   In 2008 James Buck, an American journalism student studying in Egypt, was detained and he got the message out via Twitter

§  “En route to the police station, Buck pulled out his phone and surreptitiously tweeted the word ‘arrested.’ Over the course of a few hours, he sent updates about his situation via Twitter, which were picked up and passed on to other audiences by Egyptian bloggers. That, in turn, attracted the attention of mainstream journalists, and probably helped secure Buck’s release.” (Free Speech).

·         People from Egypt telling about the Arab Spring

o   Arab Spring first brought up on Twitter—took weeks for it to show up in traditional media

·         “While traditional newswires still dominate the dissemination game, Twitter still scoops old media on certain stories—largely ones dealing with sports, major disasters, and sometimes riots” (Twitter vs…)

Second Paragraph: Social media has changed the voices we hear

·         Social media has given power to the people to be part of the journalistic process

o   “Twitter has created more opportunities for user-generated content-sharing including increased opportunities for news-sharing journalists” (Normalizing Twitter)

o   “The recollection of these revolutions, uprisings or periods of unrest (call them what you will) will not be left to official state records—they have already been chronicled, largely by the people themselves” (AlJazeera).

·         Andy Carvin informed the public about the Arab Spring movement only through Twitter; by collecting sources through Twitter

o   “But I don’t see them just as my followers—they help my research, translate, ect. So I guess I’m like an online news anchor who uses Twitter as his newsroom, with Twitter followers helping me do my job better.” (Tweeting the news…)

Third Paragraph: Social media like Twitter increases transparency between those who produce the news and the consumers

·         Consumers can see the process, instead of just seeing the final product.

o   “I think people become more informed citizens when they understand the process of journalism, not just the products of journalism. By following me, they get to see the process in action—and hopefully they get something from the experience.” (Tweeting the news…)

Fourth Paragraph: Consumers are not getting their news from just a few sources

·         Consumers can now easily access multiple news sources; not just their go-to local newspaper and cable news station

o   “The web wrecks horizontal integration. Prior to the web, having a good-but-not-great stories in one bundle used to be enough… In a world of links and feeds, however, it is often easier to find the next thing you read, watch or listen from your friends than it is to stick with one publication. Laziness now favors unbundling.” (Introduction…)

Fifth Paragraph: Power is shifting to the journalist

·         Journalists choose what to put on their own social media, giving them the chance to choose what is newsworthy

o   “Given the opportunity to share information rapidly with large audiences through Twitter, journalists have the ability to include or exclude information as they see fit, filtering news and information frequently without going through traditional means such as editors.” (Normalizing Twitter)

o   “The privileged position of the original publisher has shrunk dramatically.” (Introduction…)

Sixth Paragraph: Superdistribution

·         The more social media presence, the more people you can reach

o   “Superdistribution— the forwarding of media through social networks—means that a tiny publication with an important article can reach a huge audience quickly at no additional cost.” (Introduction…)

Seventh Paragraph: How will social media documentation change the course of history?

·         With more documentation of what is really happening “there will be far more points of reference as a means of confirming or debunking any particular take on events” (AlJazeera)

o   Genocide in Turkey

o   “If there had been thousands of Tweets, photos, and videos, recording exactly what unfolded—when as many as 40,000 people, by some accounts, were slaughtered at President Hafez al-Assad’s request—would those images have prompted a sustained popular uprising then? Would Syria have gone down a different road?” (AlJazzera).

Eighth Paragraph: Journalism is not changing and if it is it’s for the worse

·         Evgeny Morozov claims that the internet helps dictators keep rule over their people

o   “We like to think that information sets us free, and that access to the internet can lead those oppressed by authoritarians into the light of democracy. But the internet is not a one-way street, and dictatorial regimes are quite technologically savvy. Countries like Egypt may block the Internet at times, but they can take advantage of it, too, using it not just to help track down dissidents but also dispense propaganda.” (Tangled Web)

·         Social media sites that activists use to come together can also easily be monitored by the authoritarian state, and this makes them easier targets

o   “Activists who blithely ‘friend’ one another make investigations much easier for authorities trying to monitor troublemakers.” (Tangled Web)

Conclusion Paragraph

Ellen may have crashed Twitter with her selfie from the 2014 Oscars, but Twitter is one of the most powerful news sources. You can get up-to-date news from the people who experience it first-hand. Social media users are globally located allowing information to pour in from everywhere at once. People are connected by mere clicks of a mouse or taps on a smartphone. As seen in many recent social movements, protests, and news events, social media, especially Twitter, allows the world to look into the situation no matter how far away. In the United States alone, social media has had an enormous impact on journalism and continues to change it with every story broken first on social media.